Dosimetry of a (90)Y-hydroxide liquid brachytherapy treatment approach to canine osteosarcoma using PET/CT

A new treatment strategy based on direct injections of (90)Y-hydroxide into the tumor bed in dogs with osteosarcoma was studied. Direct injections of the radiopharmaceutical into the tumor bed were made according to a pretreatment plan established using (18)F-FDG images. Using a special drill, cannulas were inserted going through tissue, tumor and bone. Using these cannulas, direct injections of the radiopharmaceutical were made. The in vivo biodistribution of (90)Y-hydroxide and the anatomical tumor bed were imaged using a time-of-flight (TOF) PET/CT scanner. The material properties of the tissues were estimated from corresponding CT numbers using an electron-density calibration. Radiation absorbed dose estimates were calculated using Monte Carlo methods where the biodistribution of the pharmaceutical from PET images was sampled using a collapsing 3-D rejection technique. Dose distributions in the tumor bed and surrounding tissues were calculated, showing significant heterogeneity with multiple hot spots at injection sites. Dose volume histograms showed that approximately 33.9% of bone and tumor and 70.2% of bone marrow and trabecular bone received an absorbed dose over 200Gy; approximately 3.2% of bone and tumor and 31.0% of bone marrow and trabecular bone received a total dose of over 1000Gy.